Bigger isn’t Always Better- The Size of Your TV is Directly Related to the Size of Your Electric Bill

December 2, 2007 By Debbie Dragon

Most of us know that the bigger your vehicle, the more you’ll pay to keep it fueled up, but probably most people have never considered the size of your television and how it relates to the electric bill.  More than the size of the screen you’re watching is the technology components that give you that picture- HDTV requires more electrical power to operate than your standard tv set.  CNET  has provided an extremely useful chart to show us exactly how much electricity our big screen television sets are costing us- both while they’re being used, and while they’re “off”.  Apparently, some of the large screen tv’s are also consuming energy when they’re turned off, which means your electric meter is spinning even when you’re asleep!

Rear projection televisions are much more energy efficient than LCD or Plasma screens, when you’re basing the information on the cost per square inch of the television’s viewing screen.  LCD does require less power, but the screen sizes aren’t as large.  In general, the larger your cox television screen, the larger your energy consumption will be.  If you’re hoping Santa brings you a big screen tv- you might want to request a rear projection version to keep your electricity costs a little more manageable.

Did you have your heart set on the latest Plasma screen?  That’s fine, as long as your prepared to shell out an extra $100 a year or more over what it would cost you to run a rear projection television of the same size on your electric bill. You can save on this with a good cox bundle or other bundled cox services from other providers.  The actual amount will vary from state to state, based on how much money you pay per kilowatt-hour- the $100 per year figure is based on a 10.4 cent kilowatt-hour, the 2006 national average; but many cities are paying much more than that per kilowatt-hour so the difference between electricity to operate your Plasma versus a rear projection screen can actually be much greater than that!

Novec is a non profit organization that provides a list of  the average watts used per hour by television screens of the same size, using the various types of technology to power your picture:

Average Television Power Consumption Rate
Plasma: 328 watts
Rear-projection: 208 watts
LCD: 193 watts
CRT: 146 watts

If you decide to get a big screen television, you’ll be prepared to pay the higher electricity bill- but the problem will come as more families equip their living rooms with these larger televisions.  Eventually- everyone will feel the impact of rising electricity costs of high-definition, big screen televisions.  The prediction is that television energy use will increase about 50% annually by 2009; with 70 billion kilowatt-hours used on television watching alone.

Posted in entertainment, lifestyle, purchasing, technology

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